Strange World Felarya story and related materials

Alrighty then, Im not sure if I should just put the text into the forum here or to just simply put a link to Deviant Art where its already posted. I think I will do both just to be on the safe side. Comments are highly appreciated, I would like to improve and I would like to know what you thought/felt while you were reading it. Here is the link: ( Oh, ok. Apparently I cannot post any links...sorry) Enjoy. Again Comments greatly appreciated.

Now for those unable to comment on DA or read it on DA. Here it is in its text form:


Strange World_part1
by ~noneofurbussiness

The dimensional rip:

A bright white flash of light blinded him, then instantly he felt a force grab him and throw him, almost like a reverse of an explosion; an implosion. Suddenly he felt strange all over; his whole body tingled from head to toe. As quickly as the tingling came it went, there was another flash of blinding light and a deafening boom, he could see again. And he was falling, spinning and disoriented he couldn't see what was happening but he knew something clearly wasn't right. A sharp pain hit his side knocking the wind out of him, then another, and another, and another all over his body. Twisting and turning; He caught a glimpse of blurry tree branches as he gasped bouncing off of them. With a hard thud he suddenly stopped. His entire Body throbbing, he could feel blood pulsating in his head with every heartbeat. His head spinning and dazed he must have fallen over a hundred feet and landed face first into the dirt, if it wasn't for his suit and the trees lessening the fall he figured he wouldn't have survived. His vision blurred and breathing painfully he tried to get up. Struggling to push himself up he gave out a cry of pain and stumbled back into the dirt; all he could do was barely crawl. The trees around him seemed massive; double the size of the usual trees he sees. Looking to his left and right, this place was strange, un-known, and totally different from where he just was; no longer the open farm field at his home but some clearing surrounded by some funky looking fauna. From the depths of his soul something was telling him he was in danger. He thought to himself 'To the tree line, I got to make it to the tree line; at least there I would have some slight cover. Out here in the open I'm especially vulnerable, but I don't know if I can make it.' His Body straining he tried as hard as he could, every bruised bone and muscle burning as it struggle to drag his body. Digging his fingers into the grass, moss and soil he continued to pull his weight but with little effect. He could hear people off in the distance, through his ringing ears he couldn't make out what they were saying but it sounded as if they were speaking English. He groaned out a feeble word as he collapsed, "HELP…" as he saw several shadowy figures of people approaching him then his vision blacked out entirely. Constantly going in and out of consciousness he could feel the people doing something with him but he couldn't tell what, he could only stay wake long enough to blink a few times then black out once more. He was at their mercy; all he could do was hope that they would be his salvation and not his doom.

The search party:

"There's no sign of them, I think something got them. Maybe we should head back before something happens to us too." Said a male as he spoke to a handful of people, two other males and another two females.

"I don't know, you're probably right, but I feel like we should search just a little bit longer before we give up on those two." Said one of the other males while rubbing his neck, and before anyone could respond they were all caught off guard by a sonic boom and bright flash of light above the tree tops not to far from where they were.

Visibly shaken up by the sudden scare a female yelled "What the hell was that!" while looking around wildly.

Waving his hands in a downward motion "Shhh! Calm down! I'm not sure what that is but given on how odd that was I think we should quietly scout it out." Snapped the first male; who was quickly interrupted by the start of a few objections. Continuing on saying "If It is indeed something dangerous then it is all the more reason why we should quietly check it out. It may pose a threat to the village and then we should promptly warn the others of the danger. Besides the wind is working with us so if it just so happens to be some large predator then they won't be able to smell us anyways."

"He's right, when were out in the wild we should always be vigilant and be aware of anything that could harm the community. But again we should continue to try to stay undetected." Stating the third male in the group.

"Agreed, so is everyone ready to go? The sooner the better." Said the second female. Everyone then nervously started moving off in the direction the strange light and boom came from. After a short while they came to an area where the trees thinned out a little bit to make it more open, but still sparsely filled in with a few large trees. Through out the forest there were places which the trees thinned out significantly, sometimes into a full out clearing and then there were a few spots where the vegetation was completely overgrown to the point where it was impossible to move. And there off in the distance they spotted something, someone was on the ground surrounded many broken branches. The group gathered at the edge of a thicker patch of trees, wary of the surroundings and looking around intently.

"Well it looks like whatever that noise and light was came from this area was due to whatever that is over there." Said the first female pointing at the dark grey object. All in the group now looking at it, trying to figure out what this whole situation was. "It looks like it's a person but it looks so.."

Just then it moved! Struggled up partially to immediately fall back down on its face grunting in pain. "It moved! It's alive! It is a person!" saying a shocked male. Staring at whomever they just found, the strange person trying to look around and assess its situation, its head slowly turning back and forth.

"It looks like its hurt, I wonder what happened? S-Should we help him?" The second female said in a worried voice.

"Its hurt, this could be a trap, perhaps they are being used as bait. The right thing to do is help, but it may not be the wisest on our part." Said the fist male.

Contemplating another male responded "True, but that seems unlikely given that the wind is working in out favor, and we got here shortly after the incident, meanwhile the whole time we remained under cover. It would be unlikely that this whole thing was set up, unless this somehow has to do with the two we are searching for."

"Well everything about this is kind of odd to say the least, but I haven't seen any evidence of anything or anyone waiting to trigger the trap and jump us when we approached the area. Then again the whole idea behind a trap is to stay hidden until it's triggered. But I feel like we can't just leave him here like this; can we?"

The second male chiming in now "Look he's trying to crawl to the closest thickly wooded area in front of him about 60-something feet away. We can loop around a little staying within the tree line for some relative safely and pop up in front of him, about a hundred or so feet from where we are now."

"Alright lets do that, we can survey the area more while we relocate, meanwhile if this is indeed a set up, keep your spears ready for the unexpected" glancing back at the stranger before commenting out loud. "Boy he's not making much progress at all; he's just kind of dragging himself slowly along the ground." The group moved to the new area, weaving in and out of the trees, always trying to stay hidden and under cover while being as stealthy as possible. Now repossitioned in front of their new find they continued to look around "Well I don't see anymore reason that this is a trap, but then again it doesn't mean that it's not necessarily not one."

"Double negative!" snickered one of the girls behind him.

"Well you know what I mean!" he retorted back at her in a slightly agitated tone of voice.

"Well we should at least help him, who know what will happen if we do or don't." saying the second female "Sooo, who wants to go first?" there was a short pause and a exchange of glances. "Um, Why not you, Yahir?"

"What! W-why me? Why not you, Sylvia?" saying the second male back at her.

"Enough! Why don't you two both go first I'll fallow you and the other two can stay here for the time being as to be a look out." Saying the third male.

"Us first! Bullshit! Why not you go first then we fallow you, huh, tough guy?" saying Yahir quickly fallowed by a "Yeah!" from Sylvia.

"Fine by me." Then he cautiously walked into the clearing. "Come on, I wonder if he's seen us yet?" then almost as a response the person reached out slightly and moaned a feeble "Help!" and collapsed.

"Yahir, keep a lookout while Caleb and I look over him." Said Sylvia. "What is he wearing? I can't even tell what he is."

"How do you know it's a he?" says yahir while Looking over his shoulder "So far the coast is clear." Glancing over at the other two over by the trees who gave him a re-assuring nod.

"Well I'm just assuming that it's a he, give me a break. Geez"

"Because of this thing he's wearing, I don't really know for sure but I would guess he's a human. It doesn't help that you can barely see his face through his helmet. Sure is different from what Ben has." Said Caleb while kneeling and examining this strange man.

"Yeah, some of this stuff does look similar to what Ben has, do you think they could be weapons? If so do you think he would be friendly or not?"

"Hmm this could complicate things, here Yahir take this, be careful it may be his weapon. This guy seems pretty out of it but just to be safe I want to separate it from him."

Caleb got up and turned to jog to the trees "I'm gonna talk to the others real quick."

"So what's it look like?" asked the male back in the trees. The female seemed just as
eager to find out the answer judging by the look on her face.

"Its not like anything I've seen before, can't really tell either. But my best guess so far is it's a man. The closest possibility is it's someone else like Ben, but that's just speculation." Said Caleb.

"So that thing you gave to Yahir was some sort of weapon?" said the male.

"Well...Ben turned out to be a good friend to the village, so this could be a good thing too!" said the female excitedly.

"Clam down Liana, I know you find Ben to be... 'neat', It was pure luck things went well with him and us. And now Ben is a good addition to the village." Said the male "We had little to no idea who he was or what he was capable of. His weapons are very powerful and could have caused us some serious harm. Heck one of us almost shot themselves with his gun when fiddling with his stuff the first night."

"Oh ya! that's right, but wait doesn't Ben have more than one gun? So shouldn't that guy have more than one too?" Said Liana looking over at Yahir and Sylvia talking quietly over the man.

"That's true, hmmm. Well what are we gonna do with him then? Are we gonna bring him back like Ben or leave him here?" Said Caleb while rubbing his chin.

"Why don't we bring him back to the village, there we can post a few people to guard him and Ben can keep a eye on him since he's pretty much the only other one with a gun." Replied Liana

"Alright sounds like a plan, why don't we search him for any more weapons then we'll pick him up and take him to the village. This doesn't seem to be a trap at all, and I think now would be a good time to call it quits for searching for Eoghan and Sonya, given we were about to do that anyways."

"I know that we have been lucky with our human encounters but I still find this so exciting" said Liana with a big smile almost hopping up and down, clearly excited about a this new strange human they found.

The three of them walking back over to the rest of the group, "So how's our new guest look?" saying Aldric

"Oh, so we aren't leaving him here?" Yahir said

"Nope" replied Aldric

"Well given what he's wearing I'm not sure, but it does seem that he took a beating" said Sylvia looking from the stranger's body then up into in the trees "it looks as though he somehow fell down the trees and hit several of the branches on the way down. For the most part he seems unconscious. Also I think I found another weapon on him." said Sylvia Handing over the sidearm. "I already took off a few knives he had on him too."

"Oh this looks almost exactly like Bens Pistol, except this one is a little bigger and probably more powerful too." Said Aldric as he put it carefully into a pouch he had slung around himself. "Alright help Caleb and I pick him up."

Caleb groaned and yahir laughed "Hey this thing I'm carrying is also pretty heavy, just not as heavy." chuckleing to himself "And before you already ask, No I don't want to trade."

"Wow! This guy is like twice the weight of what he should be!" said Caleb "This guy could cause a problem for us fast, if we run into trouble since now were moving so slow and the village is a several miles away."

"Well on the chance that he is worth it I think we can risk it, plus if worse comes to worst Yahir has his rifle so he can try to use that if we get attacked by a predator."

"Yeah this may be more powerful than a spear or a bow and arrow but, I don't know how to use it. The most I know is a vague sense of what Ben has done only a few times and his is very different from this thing. We both know the general idea of a bow and arrow is to aim and shoot; but there is much more to it, you know. It requires a percentage of skill."

"Well if we leave him here something else might get to him instead of us" said Liana.

"Come on we don't want to be dragging this guy still when the sun starts to set, and the faster we get back to the village the sooner we'll all be safe from any creature stalking us now that were slow moving." Said Sylvia.

"I know that I might not need a rest carrying this gun, but one thing I know for sure is, you two are gonna need a few rest stops to catch your breath while carrying him." Said Yahir

"Pfft, no doubt about that, huh?" said Aldric

"Most definitely!" scoffed Caleb


The Way Back:

"Anybody else hear that?" whispered Sylvia

"I heard it too" whispered back Liana

"I don't know what it is, But it sounds too close for my comfort" Yahir replied quietly.

"Well that's just dandy, now that Caleb and I are due for a break" mumbled Aldric "C'mon I see a overgrown area just up ahead that we can hide in"

Running over to the under brush of bushes, vines, and dense foliage, Yahir and Liana gave a 'hurry up' motion to the others. Meanwhile Sylvia was doing her best to help take some weight off of Aldric and Caleb by grabbing hold of one of the strangers arm. Upon reaching the thicket they motioned to go in deeper but being so overgrown, it was a hard task to go in real deep.

Looking back in the direction they just came, the noise of shuffling foliage was getting louder. Liana looked down into the ground only to realize with horror that they left tracks from the man's feet dragging along the ground. With a stricken face she mouthed to the others "the tracks" while pointing at the unconscious man's feet. Doing their best to hide themselves and their new find under the leaves and vines, they stayed perfectly still and tried their best to quiet their breathing. The creature was close, too close. From within their minds they all just silently prayed that this creature, wouldn't find them. By now you could hear the creatures footsteps and breathing clearly, and it was only getting louder. Yahir tightly gripped the rifle, unsure how to use it or if it would even fire. All he knew was that to make it shoot you have to pull the trigger, but any other detail was lost to him. Likewise; everyone else held either a knife or a spear in sweaty palms knowing that there was little they could do in the way of self defense; depending on what it was and how big it was. Sylvia mouthed the words over and over 'please just go away, please just go away, please...'. Then with a hint a panic whelming up deep within them all, they heard what they least wanted to hear. The snapping of sticks and the shuffling of vines of the very thicket they were taking refuge in.

'Shit, shit, shit! Does it know we're here, it has to know. Can it smell us? It can smell us! We only have a mile left before we're home, and this is how it ends! If we weren't carrying this dead weight we would have been home and alive, we should have just left him there for the animals.' Thoughts racing through Yahir's head.

Liana was curled up behind some bushes, just barely keeping herself from shaking in fright. She could feel the fear rising up from the base of her spine all the ways up to the base of her head, so much so that she could taste the fear; the taste of salty metalic iron. 'Thu-thump! Thu-thump! Thu-thump!' Her heart pumped like mad, to the point that she thought the sound of her heart beating would give her away. Suddenly the bush she was next to shook and a shadow loomed over her. Gripping the knife handle, she looked up with a petrified expression and let out a barely audible "Eep!" mixed with a sigh. The creature was a giant forest Elk, a herbivore. And it was just eating its favorite food, Maghorne bushes which this particular overgrown spot was rich in. The Giant forest Elk just looked down at Liana, with a stupid expression as it slowly chewed, it's mouth full of leaves and twigs. Standing at least 25 feet tall, the Elk was unconcerned by the groups presence knowing that they posed little to no threat due to the significant differences in size.

A sense of calming relief rushing over everyone. They pulled themselves together and came out of hiding.
"Okay, that was more than enough rest for me. Shall we get going now?" said Aldric

"I'm having second thoughts on this; I don't want to bring this guy with us. What if that was a predator we all could have been screwed." Said Yahir

"It wasn't a predator, so we just lucked out and got a good scare." said Caleb "Besides We already went this far, we might as well take him the rest of the way there since we're almost back at the village."

"Innuo, I guess I'm just a little jumpy now after all that."

"But you're the one carrying the big gu.."

"That doesn't mean any of us know how to operate it correctly at a moments notice, when we really need it." Interrupted Yahir

"True but we all know the closer we get to the village the safer the forest is." Replied Aldric

"Now that everyone has mended their frayed nerves, lets hurry up and get home then." Said Sylvia

Shaking the last bit of jitters out of themselves the group picked up the unconscious body and once more they continued their trek to the village. The whole time the giant forest Elk continued to slowly and steadily eat its maghorne bushes while watching them make their way off into the trees.


The Arrival Back:


One of the village sentries stands guard at the edge of the village, staying ever vigilant. Off in the distance he see's a group of people approaching. There's only a hour or two of sunlight left in the day. It looks like it's the last search party turning in after a going out and searching everyday for the past three days, but this time the returning group looks different. It looks like they got a extra person with them! Jogging out to meet the group he yells "Hey, you found them, or at least one of them! And I thought for sure it was too late. They look injured do you need a hand?" But as he gets closer and starts to see them more clearly the extra person looks to be just a bit too big to be anyone of the missing people.

"Unfortunately no, we didn't find either of the two, but this search didn't prove to be fruitless. We did find someone else and yes, we could use a hand." Someone from the group shouts back."

By now there was a commotion of people gathering at the edge of the village with a few others walking out to meet the group as well.
Running up with a look of disbelief the guard pauses and says "What is that?" before lending a hand to help take some of the weight off the two carrying him "Oh God, this guy is really heavy!"

Everyone in the group starts laughing and Yahir says "tell me about it."

This was quickly fallowed by "Shut up, you didn't carry him. We did!" shot Caleb

"Knock it off you two, and were not sure what or who he is because of whatever he is wearing, but we think it's another human." Said Sylvia.

"Geez how far did you have to carry him?" asked the guard

"We were several miles out into the forest when there was a bright flash and a boom, then when we went to investigate and there he was." Responded Aldric

"No kidding! Well that's strange." Replied the guard "this will certainly be the subject of talk for a while to come."

"I'll go tell Ben the news and get him out here." Said Liana cheerfully before running off.

By the time they entered the village there was a crowd gathering around them; all eager to see this passed out stranger with a hidden face.


Awakening:


All he could see was darkness in his dream, but he could still hear voices talking, unfamiliar voices, voices that he did not know or recognize. "…hmm, oh! What I do? Well that's better, I must have turned off the visor somehow." Said a man "He does have a face!" Squealed a woman with glee. "Now how do we take this all off of him?" asked another. Then he drifted back into his empty dream before hearing anymore voices.
He woke up with a mild headache and felt sore and bruised all over. He had the oddest dream of falling then passing in and out of consciousness, but he was awake now and not sure what really happened except that it is over now. Then noticing for the first time he was starring up at a ceiling of what looked to be a hut, a well built one at that, but it wasn't the ceiling above his own bed, nor a ceiling of a hospital. He thought to himself 'Well that's not right, this doesn't make much sense, could I still be sleeping perhaps'. He reached his hands up to rub his face and hair, when suddenly he felt on his head; what seemed to be bandaging. Not much but there was some definitely there. He turned his head and looked over to his left and there was a small wooden table beside him with some fruit and a clay pitcher with some glasses surrounding it.

"Good morning." The sound made his heart jump and he quickly swiveled his head around to his right and there was a man there watching him from a doorway. He just stood there with a hardened face, dirty blonde hair and light blue eyes judging him. "Take it easy, you're safe now, relax and rest." He said. The man in the bed just questionly looked back at him, not letting him out of his sight. The man at the doorway started to walk around the other side of the room stopping at the table, "Are you thirsty? Hungry?" He proceeded to pour a glass of water and handed it to him. Sitting up, the man in the bed took the glass and eyed it a little but was hesitant to drink it. The man standing beside him just smiled. It made him feel it a little uneasy. "I thought the same when I first showed up here many years ago" as he poured himself a second glass and took a drink. "I'm Ben by the way."

The man in the bed then slowly took a sip, his mouth was dry and truth be told it felt really good getting his tongue wet with cool water. Then he responded "I'm Tony." Looking around briefly at the small room he found himself in before concentrating on Ben again.

"You're lucky to be alive." As he reached down behind the table and picked up Tony's helmet. "Interesting contraption you got here. Probably a large reason why you're not so badly beat up or even dead. While you where out of it, we figured out how to take off your suit, at first all we could do was take off the helmet and gloves. But then we had a break through right before giving up and were able to take of the rest of it. It was quite an ordeal. I hope you don't mind too much, it was the only sure way to effectively treat you. Make sure you weren't too badly injured." At the sight of his helmet it all rushed back to him, he was wearing his suit and he looked down at himself and realized now he was just wearing his normal cloths. His white t-shirt and his faded blue carpenter jeans, further at the foot of the bed was his plain grey long sleeve shirt neatly folded on the corner, which he previously was wearing on top of his t-shirt. On his feet were just his socks, his shoes were missing and somewhere else. Tony thought to himself 'Aw shit, I hope I don't find myself in any trouble anytime soon.' He then looked around the room for his other possessions and what happened to it, only to simply see his shoes on the floor beside the bed and nothing more.

As if reading his mind Ben continued "All your stuff we moved to another area in the village, we didn't want to risk you going crazy and hurting anyone with your guns or something."

Tony just gave a understanding nod back at Ben. Now he felt a little more vulnerable than before but to be fair he did have weapons on him originally. "Where am I and how did I get here?"

"This is a small village out in the wilderness, and I would suggest not leaving the village at all, even before you think it. It's a very dangerous world out there even if you have a weapon. And you got here because a group of villagers just so happened to come across your body lying unconscious in the forest. Probably due to that nasty bump on your head which we bandaged up after cleaning off the old blood. They said it looked as if you fell out of the trees or something."

There was a pause as Tony Remembered everything, the last thing he remembered was blinking a few times with blurred vision and seeing his feet being dragged along the ground while hearing all sorts of commotion all around him. Tony thought to himself 'it wasn't a dream then'. "Wait if my experiment had a catastrophic malfunction, how did I end up in this place?"

"What's your story Tony? Do you remember?" as Ben pulled up a chair from the corner of the room.

"Well, lets see, where do I start? For the past few years I have been developing this suit. I, for a hobby, like to build or invent things. It has sorta taken on a life of its own and I can make some good money with it. A lot of my work can get some good recognition. There's even competitions for robotics where there is a big cash prize and big investors like to prospect potential technologies. If you build something successful you can sell your product and even make a decent living off of it, although that's the hard part, developing something good. Anyways recently I was working on something highly experimental compared to my usual antics, and it would always be a hit or miss with this, the results tended to vary so it was 'unstable' if you will. I developed a form of 'shielding' like you would see in movies and videogames, but it was always on a small scale and I wanted to keep most it, if not all of my work about this relatively hush-hush until I felt like I had perfected it. On a small scale I could cover a little surface with a little membrane of charged plasma, kind of like blowing a bubble but stretching it out instead of it being a little sphere. On testing trials I found the more energy you give it the stronger it is, It could be as strong as simple cloth, heavier Kevlar, or even an inch of steel. But it does have its limits and can overload. It could be revolutionary to safety features in automobiles, armor on military vehicles, and flying space debris for the space shuttle."
By now Ben was fully engrossed in this conversation which lead Tony to feel a little easier and thus lower his guard a tiny bit with out even realizing it. "I have however found that if, you over power it with a pulse of electricity it looses its form and it shoots out forward in a shock wave like force, useful for knocking down anything in front of it. Its strength when doing that is significantly weaker since its no longer concentrated and now is disbursed over a large area, but none the less very violent and potentially hazardous. Anyways like I do with just about everything else, I incorporated it into my suit somehow. I then tried to develop a large scale shield by creating a device that has a bubble membrane form over an immediate area instead of a small surface by the controlled continuous overload of the shock wave through the continued input of power. The Idea was to create a small encased area that was safe within the shield from one device you could place on the ground. So even though it was very unstable, it did work most the time but only for a short time. I timed it to last an average of just under twenty seconds, I figured that was the Best I could try to do."

"That's amazing!" said Ben who was clearly surprised to hear that anything like that really existed, but something about him made it seem like it wasn't as shocking as if it would have been if Tony were to tell it to someone else. "Although that doesn't really tell how you ended up here?"

"Well you see, I get a kick to do some field test with my stuff, so I dressed up In my suit fully decked out and fully loaded and I would test everything at once and put it all through all the paces, a thorough beating during that time..."

Ben Interrupted "I have been meaning to ask, when we all found you, you had a lot of weapons on you, most military grade…"

This time tony Interrupted "Its for the military, or at least that's the targeted customer anyways." In which Ben had a 'Oh...that's why' look wash over him. "Now for how I got here the way I did with all that weaponry, was at the start before I did anything I had activated the suits shield and then activated the area shield without ever thinking about it, I never tested them together before. They shorted each other out or something, not sure what really happened there was a flash and a sonic boom, next thing I knew I felt like I got sucked into something while I was blinded, then I saw sky and trees and blacked out. Hell I didn't even get to load any of my guns, and shooting is half the fun of these full field tests."

"Then found yourself here?"

"Yeah"

"Hmmmm" Ben leaned back in the chair, rocking on the back two legs slightly. "Alright" he said nodding while rubbing his chin with his fingers in a thinking manor.

Just then there was quiet muffled talking outside the doorway "I don't think you should go in there just yet, he just came to not too long ago." Said a man.

"Is Ben in there talking to him?" said a woman.

"Yes, He's been keeping an eye on him and they've been talking for a little bit."

"Then don't worry about it, everything will be fine." Then the door opened and she walked in, the guy stayed out in the hallway. Simultaneously Ben and Tony both turned to look at her.

"Hi" she said cheerfully tilting her head slightly and showing a radiant smile. She had long dark silky hair and hazel eyes, she was wearing a light brown tank top and matching shorts...and...Tony Froze with a surprised look of disbelief. He quickly shook his head and rubbed his eyes, still dumbfounded. She was amused by his reaction "How are you feeling?"

Tony tried to respond but when he opened his mouth nothing came out at first, then fallowed by a half stammered "u-uh-h..." was all he could produce. He could hear Ben beside him chuckle. "I must have hit my head harder than I thought, I think I'm seeing things." He mumbled

"No you didn't" Ben mumbled back.

She stepped forward towards him and he tried to shuffle upright in the bed. It was just a reaction, not as if it was thought out action or premeditated, but your mind tends to try and keep your body away from the unknown and thus potentially dangerous. As he did so his sore body started screaming back at him, throbbing in pain, protesting at the sudden quick movements. An audible gasp of air was drawn through his clenched teeth. And She paused with a puzzled and worried face. Tony felt a hand clasp on his shoulder and his head spun around to look at Ben.

"Easy! Its alright, she wont harm you. As I said before you are safe within the village, but if you leave the village that is when It gets dangerous." saying that in a very solid and serious tone of voice. "I know, but when I was where you were way back when, I was in much more desperate shape than you are now. Trust me I know the feeling you're going through and will go through." Said Ben. Tony Looking back and forth between the two, unsure what the hell was going on.

"Can I take a look at the bandage now?" she said with a slightly hurt yet half heartedly 'I expected this reaction' look in her eyes but in the friendliest voice she could muster.

Tony relaxed a little and Ben moved his hand off Tony's shoulder. Unsure of everything Ben just said and meant, but he felt they booth seemed nice enough so far. "uh, sure".

She walked over and pulled up another chair before sitting down to start removing the bandages. "Am I dreaming, or in a coma?"

"No, and your also not dead either. Your eyes do not deceive you, you are indeed seeing what you're seeing, and it's not a trick. Even if it were a really good prank." Ben chuckled.

Turning to the young woman who just started to inspect the bandages. "What are you?"

"I am Liana, and I am a Neko." She said

"A what?"

"A Neko, essentially a Human but with a few animal like characteristics." She said pointing to her ears sticking out of the top sides of her head. They were not human but replaced by something that looked positively canine or feline.

Saying softly to himself "This can't be. This is down right impossible, something made up."

"Is it impossible?" She asked almost smugly.

"What's next your going to tell me elves and dwarfs and orcs and trolls exist outside of imagination as well?" Tony asked

"Well yeah, and not exactly" said Ben "Elves due exist, but not dwarfs, at least to my knowledge. Altho I truly wouldn't be all that surprised to find that there are 'dwarfs'. There are no orcs or trolls to be exact, but there are quiet some foul monsters out there."

Tony's face was blank but you could see in his eyes; gears turning within his mind trying to make sense of it all. After a short awkward moment of silence with Liana finishing taking off the last of Tony's head wrap and Ben said "Is it truly so hard too perhaps think that some of the people who made up wizards and magic and all those fairy tales of heroes fighting monsters, had at least based it off of something real, maybe in another world they stumbled upon?"

"Well Ya, sorta, I don't know…How do I know that this is truly reality and not something else like what I said before?"

"I guess you really wouldn't know, but you better accept this new world sooner or later. Either way if you are dreaming or in a coma or dead, would it matter at all?" That answer gave Tony a real uneasy feeling as if he didn't want to have his own question answered for fear of what it was.

"Here ease you skepticism" said Liana as she took his hand and brought it up to her head "Feel my ears, they're real, go ahead." By now Tony was really uneasy and felt completely out of his element, he never fathomed ever being in a situation like this because he never figured such a place like this ever existed. Tony did as she directed him, her hand slowly guiding his and he felt her ear. It was fuzzy and warm there was split second were he was about to quickly pull his hand back but he hesitated. She sensed this and continued to keep a firm but gentle grip on his hand. He continued to feel the ear down into the thick hair it disappeared in, but he didn't find a hair clip or hair band like he half heartedly thought he would. He felt instead skin, her ears went into her head, they were real! He took a quiet but deep breath and his eyes widened. She just giggled and he slowly pulled his hand back and thought hard, real hard about what was going on. She just continued to smile and Ben gave a evil smirk thinking to himself 'is that what I looked like? Priceless!'

"Oh, well your bump wasn't too bad so your bandages soaked up the blood that did come out" she said as she wiped down the wound with a clean wet cloth. "I'm going to bandage you up with some new ones and after the next two days you should be healed enough to not even need them at all, and this one should last you till then." He could feel the blood dried onto his hair being washed away with a damp cloth. The whole time Ben was there. He knew why he was there now, Ben was clearly to be the first contact with him when he regained consciousness. Didn't want him to potentially freak out. It can be scary enough waking up hurt surrounded by people you don't know, let alone people who aren't entirely human. Could Hurt some one or himself if he did freak out, they were smart to separate him from his possesions. Given that suit was designed mainly with the military in mind and it could turn him into a force to be reckoned with especially fully loaded the way it was when he was doing a full field test. Tony glanced down at the off white bloody cloth that was previously on his head, by now Liana was half done putting on the new ones before anyone spoke again.

"Thank you." Tony said calmly "And Ben, I know why you where the first for me to meet when waking up. Tell me, how many non-humans are here besides Liana here? The guy outside the door, he's a guard right? Given that I'm a stranger and all it would seemingly make sense. Is he human?"

With a grin Ben answered "You catch on quick, yep he was guarding you along with me, and no he's one of them. And to answer you on how many, almost all of them. This is a Neko village, I'm one of the few humans that live here with them. Including men, women and children there's almost 60 of us in all, just under a dozen of which are humans, myself included."

"You're welcome." Liana said in a warm voice "Well You are set with the bandages, Hope you'll heal up soon enough and I'll see you around the village shortly. Just keep those bandages dry and clean." Then she got up and walked away. And for the first time he noticed that she had a furry tail that matched her ears! It was a tad unsettling, but then again Humans do have a 'tail bone' that goes no where, so maybe that's how you could explain that to some degree.

"You'll get used to it, everyone who comes to this world has to, I did." Said Ben once she left "So where are you from? Earth?"

"Uh yes, earth." Said Tony, he didn't even think about where other people could come from. "Im from New Hampshire, United States."

"Oh really, I'm from the United States too, I'm From California. Small world huh?"

"Um do they usually speak English here? Because it seems…peculiar that they'd speak English just like us?"

"Actually, they do. I found it to be just as odd a coincidence myself. They also speak their native tong, but you find that the two are very identical in terminology and usage. So there should be little problem understanding one another once you get use to it. You find that English and their language have more or less blended together. What Year are you from?"

"From? Not When is it? I'm from 2017, why what year are you from?"

"I'm from 2004 and I've been here for a little over a decade now. You see this world is kind of in-between cross dimensions so unless the traveling through is controlled; time and place can be warped. In your case the three year difference and apparently falling a hundred feet out of a tree. I was luckier in only falling a few feet when I popped up here. But to be honest either one of use could have been killed easily when shooting between dimensions if the other side of the portal never opened, that and we could have landed several decades or more apart in time. This is all purely luck. Just like when you were injured Liana and her group found you before something else did. The only reason they were looking, was for two people, Eoghan and Sonya, who disappeared. By now they must have been eaten and you could have been too."

"Wait, what, eaten?" by now Tony had given even more of his attention towards Ben, if that was even possible after everything else.

"Well from where we are back on Earth we really don't worry about stuff like that. We are essentially at the top of the food chain, and people like whom you just saw don't exist. Remember how I said that there are monsters that exist here too? That Is why it is dangerous to leave the village, here you get some relative security. There are some very large predators out there that are very hard to kill. They are at the top of the food chain mostly because of their size, but there are those who are also smart as well as really, really large. Its like going up against a lion or grizzly bear armed only with a pocket knife, pretty much the only thing you can do is piss it off. Another thing that you should know is here magic exists." Tony raised his eyebrow as if to say 'yea right, sure there is'. "That's right, you heard what I said, but there is some logic behind it. I only know that since this world is in flux between other dimensions that is the source of the magic which then permeates into the rest of this world. And to answer two of you questions before you can say them, is: No, no one here knows how to or can use magic, but out in the rest of the world there are those who can. And This isn't a convenient excuse to make you believe what I said. Lastly I'm not pulling on your chain, this is not a time to joke given you are new here, and new people tend to be unluckily ignorant and get killed quickly. In time you will learn this to be true as I did."

"I have to say this is a lot to digest all at once if you know what I mean."

"Alright I'll give you some time alone to let you rest up and think on all this."

"Wait what is your story? You have hinted at it, but haven't said anything about it."

"I'll tell you some other time, when you're more healed up. So far that is all you need to know. I'll be seeing you around." Then Ben left the room and closed the door to let him ponder by himself.

Outside the door the guard asked Ben "So how'd everything go?"

"It's good; it's hard to tell if theirs any ulterior motives so far, but it seems like he's going to end up like I did, to an extent anyways. Again it's kind of early to tell, but we will all see where this leads. I'll be in the other room for a bit if you need me."


Outside the House:


There was a small mob a bit away from the hut all asking about the new stranger. "What does he look like?", "It is a he, right? Or is it a girl?" ,"Is the human nice?",
"Is he healing up well?", "How long till he'll be up and about?", "Is he a potentially dangerous?" All of which were from curious adults and children who were in the process of swamping Liana who just exited the dwelling a moment ago.

"One at a time, I can't answer all of you at once" replied Liana a bit flustered. "First off He seems a little shocked at all this, similar to Ben when He first arrived. So we should give him some space and not flood over him when he does come out, like what you're doing to me right now. Just let him take his own time to get adjusted and have him approach you before starting up a conversation. Alright?" she paused and looked around for some form of agreement before continuing on. "Age wise he looks to be about the same as than Ben, perhaps in his mid twenties. He has dark brown short hair, and greenish hazel eyes."

"What is his name?" a voice from the group inquired

"You know what, I didn't catch what his name was." Feeling a little embarrassed to admit that she forgot to ask since, he was still baffled at the fact she wasn't exactly human and on a new strange world. "How ever he seems nice enough so far, just a little quiet. He is healing up nicely; the bump on his head and his bruising should heal up quickly with no real issues except perhaps some soreness."

"So that's good, he won't be in there for days on end like Ben, when would we expect him to be out walking around?" said Aldric walking up and just joining the group around Liana.

"Yup, In a days time or so he should be around and about the village, I told him the bandages would come off in two days."

"Oh good, then he can meet the rest of us soon."

"Hey can you tell us how you found him again?" said a young boy with excitement in his voice.

"Gladly." Said Aldric, as all the kids gathered around to hear what happened once more.

"I see you have this under control, I'll leave this in your capable hands." Said Liana as she turned to walk off and leave the group. Many of the other adults fallowed suit and continued about their daily choirs while the kids intensively listened.


Inside:


Exhausted after his first encounter which left thoroughly in a haze of confusion. Tony decided the best thing to do was to get some sleep to clear his head. He fell asleep fast and awoke from a deep sleep several hours later in the day. Opening his eyes he looked up at the wood ceiling. Closed his eyes and thought to himself 'please, please let this be some crazy dream, this isn't reality. It cannot be reality'. Just to open his eyes again to see the same wood ceiling, the same room in a hut, the same strange place with his head bandaged up. He looked around the small room, nobody else was with him in the room this time. Tony let out a sigh and sat up in the bed. Reached over to the table next to the bed and picked up a strange fruit. It was like a cross between a mango and a pear. He sniffed it, examined it, he doubted that they would give him anything poisonous since there was nothing abnormal about the water he previously drank, but he decided to play it safe. He peeled it open just a little, juice came squirting out down his fingers. He rubbed some on a small spot on his skin, and waited for a reaction of some type. Nothing. He took a bite, there was a burst of flavor. It was magnificent It was like kiwi strawberry mixed with pineapple and blueberry, It was a seriously crazy flavor. It was delicious, but then again everything tastes better when your hungry. He wanted to inhale it in a few big bites, but kept his self control. He held the bite in his mouth and waited, still no reaction. He swallowed, feeling its cold wet fruit flesh moving down this throat. Waited, still nothing, now convinced it was safe to eat. He devoured the rest of it, and then finished off a second, lying on top of the thin blankets on the bed he just enjoying the feel of being pleasantly full and his thirst quenched at the same time from such juicy fruit.
Thinking about this seriously weird predicament he found himself to be in, what was he suppose to do. If this world isn't real, then I'm already as good as dead. If this isn't some from of purgatory or a next life, but a figment of his imagination then I could be in a coma. If it is indeed a coma he'd want to keep thinking and stay alive, that way hopefully doctors will be able to detect brain activity and then could help him. Who knows if he died here in his mind, would he also die in his coma? If this was purgatory and he was already dead, then that would potentially mean heaven and hell exists too so he should probably do good deeds. If this was a dream, whatever happened here wouldn't matter at all. If this was a re-incarnation in some new world after he died in his own world, or he did in fact somehow cross dimensions, then he should make the best of the situation and try to truly live life. Tony came to the conclusion that he should do his best to stay alive and see if there was any way back to his world. If there was he should pursue it. In the meantime he should learn as much as he could about this strange place, befriend these people since he was at their mercy and they had his equipment, and naturally regain his strength and make a full recovery. Once he earned their trust getting his stuff back shouldn't be much of an issue.
With new resolve, he slid over to the edge of the bed and tested his limbs. Stretching and flexing his body, feeling like everything was in order he stood up slowly. So far so good, walked to the close door of the room, balance seemed fine. Feeling good with himself, the headache he had before, he must have slept off. Opening the door he saw his guards at a small table playing some board game. He noticed Ben right away and the other was neko male. They turned and made eye contact with him and nodded, Tony nodded back. Tony figured since they were guarding him they probably were not incompetent at all and may have some sort of concealed weapon on their persons.

"Won't you join us?" Said Ben pointing at a extra chair "Welcome to the main room."

"How are you feeling Tony?" asked the neko male

"I'm alright, I'm a little sore all over, but I'll be fine" said tony as he sat down beside of them

"Good, good. I'm Caleb by the way" said the neko. Tony Looked at him examining his characteristics: yellow green eyes, messy brown and black hair, almost like he had highlights done; with matching ears and tail. Such an odd hair coloration reminded Tony of a tabby cat.

"Caleb here was in the search party who found you, in fact he was one of the two who actually carried you all the way back here several miles." Said Ben

"Oh well thank you very much Caleb, thanks to all of you. I'm not sure what would or wouldn't have happened to me if you guys didn't help my sorry ass." Said tony with an uneasy grin

"No problem, just try to return the favor whenever you can." smiled Caleb

"Oh I'll have to."

"So did you eat the fruit we had set out for you?"

"Yes, I had two of them, they were oddly good but...they were um...different to say the least." Said tony while glancing towards the window on the far side of the room, just noticing the sunlight no longer being bright but more of a dimmer bronze hue. "What time is it by the way?"

"It's a little before dusk" said Ben looking at his wrist watch "its seven-seventeen to be more exact. Roughly the same time we arrived back here yesterday with you."

"So Caleb, was it?" He nodded back at Tony in agreement " Not to be rude or anything but what are Nekos? Like I know Humans and what they are, me being one and all, but…"

Laughing to himself Caleb interrupted "Don't worry about it, You'll find out yourself that we are a similar people. As you can tell just by looking at us we have animal ears and tails, there are a few of us out there that have characteristics that look slightly closer to what Ben here would say to be a Dog or fox or whatever." He said looking towards Ben for confirmation which Ben waved his hand and nodded in a 'carry on' gesture. "But you'll find that like ninety-nine percent of us resemble cats more so."

"Oh, so that's were I saw that color pattern of yours before!" said tony

"Yep, it seems that Nekos have more variety in their colors and patterns than us humans do. If we were to match them we would have to dye our hair and stuff like that." Said Ben

"I fist I thought your hair looked like you had dyed streaks in it, for it to have those alterations between brown and black." Replied tony pointing at Caleb's hair

"I'll take that as a complement" grinned Caleb. Continuing on he explained more "Because of our tails we have more fine tuned sense of balance and in turn that helps our agility. And with these ears we have better hearing since there bigger and we can articulate them.

"Don't go gloating now their not that superior to ours" said Ben in a playfully mocking manor.

"They are still better."

"Fine then, go on."

"Our sense of smell is also better than yours, and to an extent our eyesight."

"Well that isn't giving a fair comparison" said Ben "Look tony, they can smell better but not as good as large preditors out there, when it comes to them their smell wont really help them as much as they would like. Their simply outclassed by them, so us two aren't really at such a large disadvantage. And when it comes to their eyesight for all intensive purposes they are the same as ours. For every person it varies a little, so if you got good eyesight you could easily match or even beat a Neko if theirs isn't perfect." Tony was now just simply watching the two going back and forth absorbing as much as he could.

"But when it comes to hunting we Nekos have a easier time because we can sense more."

"You guys may rely on your senses to much, but us humans got to rely on our smarts. Besides If you were to compare senses Elves would beat you out on eye sight."

"But we'd still have hearing and smell"

"Hearing yes, but not by much, elves are smack dab in between us"

"So what do Humans have in our favor?" asked Tony, amused but slightly feeling subpar knowing all to well animal senses are typically better than humans.

"We have brains; you find that more often than not Humans somehow figure out a cunning way to deal with things. We adapt to the situation."

"Hey Ben, Don't go giving Tony a wrong idea here. You're just more developed in technology than us."

"All joking aside; in mental prowess Humans, Nekos and Elves are all on the same equal level, Its just we use our smarts more often so typically we have weapons and all sorts of creations and inventions developed to a higher extent than other peoples. For example you invented that suit of yours, which saved your life when you arrived here."

"But it was my inventing that got me here in the first place; even if it was an unintentional outcome." Said Tony

"True, that was a freak incident, but nothing can be done about the past now. Anyways Nekos don't have anything close to that, they are typically low tech, But that doesn't mean they cannot use technology, like a human: if they learn it, they can use it."

"That's right, we don't have computers or big machinery here but given the chance we could learn to use them just as well as you or Ben."

"So to sum this up nekos are essentially humans but with catlike characteristics? So what like you can climb tree's with relative ease, have good hearing and sense of smell, and stuff like that?" inquired Tony

Snickering to himself Caleb said "I didn't even think about mentioning tree climbing untill you asked, but yeah I guess so. We have fingernails just like you do, but ours are a lot tougher than yours so they're um... identical but more claw-like, for lack of better terminology. I don't know why, its just they seem to be stronger material even though they seem to be made of the same stuff as yours and look the same as humans. Fingernails simply give support to your fingertips to grasp and pick up things. Thus they can help us cling onto the trees slightly better when climbing up, It's not really that noticeable a difference. It is useful for trying to get out of the path of potential danger though."

"Depending on how athletic you are, with some training you can once again match or even beat them sometimes; when it comes to agility, reflexes, tree climbing or whatever the subject may be. But keep in mind, Nekos have the natural advantage, and more often than not win in a competition" Said Ben "at least in the beginning anyways."

"Ha ha ha very funny Ben" said Caleb in a sarcastic tone.

"I look forward to the competition then." Said Tony with a smug grin across his face.

Caleb and Ben looked at each other with a devious grin and nodded. "Well then Healthy competition is always good, Would you like to join our board game?" said Ben

"I don't even recognize it" said Tony

"It's a neko game, Sort of like Chinese checkers."

"You two would have to teach me how to play then. But first on a unrelated subject Is there a bathroom or something I can go to?"

"Certainly" said Caleb pointing to a small room across from him "There is one right there"

"The plumbing was my idea" said Ben "before they were simply outhouses on the edge of the village. Like I said technology."

"You gloater" laughed Caleb while trying to insult Ben "you make it sound as if it was bad before you arrived here." Upon returning from relieving himself, He was taught how to play. The first game they gained up on Him and demolished him, the second game however he started to get the hang of it. Tony still lost, but he was able to hold his own for a while in the beginning against the combined effort of Caleb and Ben. Afterwards they called it a night and He went back into his original room to sleep the rest of the night away. Thinking to himself they were friendly enough people, perhaps this wasn't so bad, although he still hoped this was just a seriously weird dream.

So ya, Im new to the forum here and I dont know why my new story doesn't say "New" to it. Perhaps I did something wrong, maybe adding this comment to it will solve that issue and theen it will be advvertised as "new".

noneofurbussiness wrote:

So ya, Im new to the forum here and I dont know why my new story doesn't say "New" to it. Perhaps I did something wrong, maybe adding this comment to it will solve that issue and theen it will be advvertised as "new".

"New" doesn't mean the thread is new; it mains it contains posts that you haven't read it. Since you've read the posts of your own thread, it tells you "No new". But other people will see it indicating "New".

By the way you can include a link in your post. What gave you the idea that you can't?

OHHHH! ha ha oops my bad. Thanks though. And when I tried to post a link to my story on DA it said an error for some reason or other. "You are not allowed to post links and emails" Altho I have seen others do it. Im not sure what Im doing wrong (I just tried again and got the same result. Its just a simple copy and paste right?).

I was told to get some feedback and attention on my stories I should join the forum or a group. So here I am. I dont think I will have anywhere near as much stories as you French Snack. Nice job by the way on your work. If you dont mind and when you have the time, could you please tell me what you thought of my initial writing? Also by starting a thread, was this the proper way to post a story here, or did I do something differently? (I think I did it right)

And on a unrelated note thats not really important at all. How long does it take for your level status to no longer be the comical "tastey morsel" into something less "vulnerable"? I know It works with your forum activity and number of posts, but thats about all I know. Again this doesnt really matter in the least bit, but its more out of curiosity.

noneofurbussiness wrote:

OHHHH! ha ha oops my bad. Thanks though. And when I tried to post a link to my story on DA it said an error for some reason or other. "You are not allowed to post links and emails" Altho I have seen others do it. Im not sure what Im doing wrong (I just tried again and got the same result. Its just a simple copy and paste right?).

Posting a link should be as simple as pasting the link or if you want to give the link a different label then use this in your post [u rl=the url goes here] Label goes here[/url] (obviously without the space between the "u" and the "rl")

noneofurbussiness wrote:

And on a unrelated note thats not really important at all. How long does it take for your level status to no longer be the comical "tastey morsel" into something less "vulnerable"? I know It works with your forum activity and number of posts, but thats about all I know. Again this doesnt really matter in the least bit, but its more out of curiosity.

25posts-Tasty Morsel
30-Naga Food
55-Newbie Adventurer
80-Roaming Thug
120-Seasoned Adventurer
180-Valiant Swordsman
250-Veteran Knight
325-Marauder of the deep jungle
That should be enough for now.

A good read I enjoyed it.

However I must admit you kinda had me baffled at exactly just what exactly everyone was at the beginning. Yes near the middle of the story you explained just exactly what they were and gave out clue's that pointed out that Tony's rescuer's were not human. Now it may just be a personal peeve of mine but even if you weren't going to reveal to Tony exactly what his rescuers were until later you could of described just what his rescuers looked like so that the reader knows what they are rather then waiting until later to find out exactly what they are.

I spotted a few spelling errors in it as well where you spelled fallow its follow unless your talking about crops then by all means have them say fallow but if there following after another then its follow. Another one although I don't know if it's an intentional one for how you want your characters to talk "Innuo" should be spelled "I don't know" or "I dunno"

"We have brains; you find that more often than not Humans somehow figure out a cunning way to deal with things. We adapt to the situation."

That was a good one heh, yet sadly few humans in Felarya ever do use their brains and do end up meeting their maker far sooner then they would like.

Now I'm not going to argue about your neko's but seriously a neko that's never thought about climbing a tree? Now that makes no sense to me what so ever of course your character your story. Just wanted to point out something that just really mad me wonder whats wrong with that neko never having thought to climb a tree? Isn't that something all neko's like to do and is like taught to them as kids? Or would that inferring my own idea of neko's or not?

Either way good story I'd like to see more of what adventure's Tony happens to go be a part of whether they be on purpose or not. Please continue the show!

Buddha, thank you for the tip, and the posting ranks. I have a LONG way to go before I reach the Marauder status, which I think would fit my character Tony pretty well. (lets try the link again... error " New members are not allowed to post external links or emails for 7 days. Please contact the forum administrator for more information" *sigh* oh well I shall try again in a few days) Thanks again.

Walkingbyself, Thank you for the feedback. The unknown Neko People was intentional in the begining of the story, my attempt at some suspense, but I can easily see thats a little annoying. I was unsure how to describe them without making them seem actually human or giving them away as nekos. I wanted the reader to be in the same mind frame as Tony when he woke up. I thought to myself 'How would I react if this crazy sh*t happened to me?'

The spelling errors of Fallow vs follow are indeed errors. The "Innou" is an attempt on how the individual talks. I tried to just have that some characters say that while others just talk normally. And "I dunno" I think is also just a slang and not technically a real word.

And the Brains comment I think is good. I was trying to give humans a edge compaired to the other races which have better this and that. Altho being felarya and thus heavily dependant on vore, Karbo has to have ample amounts of dumb people or unlucky people to be eaten. So I was refering to more like the people in my story, Ben and Tony, etc.

With the Neko never climbing trees, I think that came out wrong. I should go back and edit my stuff so its more clear. I ment that he never thought of mentioning that during the conversation untill it was asked. The Nekos climb trees all the time, Later on I plan to have playful competitions of everyone trying proving themselves. Time to shine right?

I hope that my explaination of Tony's inventions and the differences of the races came out understandable enough. And the scene with the giant forest elk came out fluid. I already have part two posted on my DA account and part three is in the works. I plan to post part two here shortly, once I get more done with part three. I got alot planned ahead for everyone here and hopefully I will get to it all in a timely manor.

Okay, Well Now im posting part two since part three ios well underway. As Always, Comments and tips are appreciated. Part two is a continuation of hopefully setting up a strong base/intro to work my other stories off of.

[ http://noneofurbussiness.deviantart.com/#/d3gw8n0]Part two on DA[/url]

AND the previous [http://noneofurbussiness.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d3ge5zp] Part one on DA[/url]

Lastly the actual text here if you rather not go to the DA links:


Strange World_part2
by ~noneofurbussiness

The Morning:

Tony woke up to the bright rays of the morning sun shinning on his face. Warm and gentle. A nice contrast to the crisp morning air. He opened his eyes and saw the same wooden hut. "Damn it, still here." he mumbled to himself. Sitting up and stretching he poured himself a glass of water and swished it around in his mouth hoping to get rid of any possible bad breath. Standing he looked out the small window. Past the curtain he could see many other houses, each one seemingly built by putting together a few small huts, so each had a few small rooms to it. Beyond that he could see a vast forest of massive trees. The vegetation looked almost sub tropical, yet he didn't feel uncomfortably hot or humid at all, in fact it was very agreeable weather. It was somewhat warm, yet still cold enough to feel the chilled air of the morning. Tony padding over to the door that lead to the main room, he listened; he didn't hear anyone moving about within the house just the unknown birds singing their songs off in the distance. Opening the door he saw Caleb in the main room resting in a hammock, eyes closed apparently still sleeping. Looking around, tony didn't see Ben anywhere, curiosity getting the best of him; Tony made his way for the front door after putting his shoes back on. Opening the door it creaked a little and he looked back at Caleb. Still sleeping Tony whispered to himself "Superior hearing my ass." he smirked. Stepping through the threshold into the open air he could feel the breeze, the smell of nature all around him. The wet dew on the plants, the rich soil, the wild flowers and their pollen, he loved the smell of nature ever since he was a boy. It was so clean compared to the air of the city suburbs he once new as a teenager. Taking a deep breath he slowly wandered off to explore the village. He figured that the sun had been up for a little by now but not long, there seemed to be some commotion going on, but not much leading him to figure a lot of the village's denizens were still in the process of waking up. The Village was very quaint with its simple but humble buildings and structures, smaller trees here and there, a few clothes lines scattered here and there beside a few of the houses. Lush, soft grass was everywhere, in-between the houses, in the pathways, around the village, only a few spots were warn away by constant travel. Surrounding the village's perimeter was a thick earth and rock wall that was about chest high and a few feet thick. Beyond that were mostly open fields with a few patches of what seemed to be gardens with crops growing out of it. With the exception of only a few trees, all the trees he saw next to the village were bearing some form of fruit or another. The only ones that looked to be just average trees seemed to be at the forest edge a few hundred feet past the wall. The forest however looked thick, foreboding, and tangled, as if anything traveling through would have a problem traversing through it. Walking around the perimeter he could feel eyes upon him, watching him. From a few doorways and windows in he could see curious faces watching him, human looking except for the ears. He gave a awkward but warm smile at them, some gave the look back, while others just kept their distance. Looking behind him he finally realized Caleb was there shadowing him, which actually startled him a little. Walking up to one another a little; Tony asked "How long have you been fallowing me like this?"

"Ever since 'superior hearing my ass'" he said with a cocky attitude "and It's not really that bad being here."

"Oh" said tony slightly embarrassed "guess you can hear pretty well, I thought I said that quiet enough, I suppose you weren't sleeping then."

"Nope, that wouldn't make me a very good guard then, now would it?"

"That's right" smirked Tony "But I think I'll be fine."

"Its not really for you, its for them, if you ever did something…err…regrettable."

"I kind of figured that much, but I'm not that kind of person."

"You don't seem to be, but it's to put minds at ease for now and it is just a precaution. You know, just to be on the safe side of things."

Nodding in agreement Tony asked "Is it alright if I explore a little? I won't leave the village and do my best not to cause trouble."

"Good. Well you definitely seem to have healed up enough by now. Feel any pain still?"

"No, just some very slight soreness on a few of my joints, left shin, one of my ribs, and the bump on my head, but it's not too noticeable; Nothing to be concerned about a whole lot."

"All right, I'll give you some space for now" Said Caleb as he walked off to shadow Tony from a distance again.

Tony paused before continuing on, looking out at the small fields around the village he took a deep breath, Tony always loved the feel of being able to breathe fresh clean air deeply. Reflecting back at his injuries, he was lucky he wasn't hurt more seriously given the fact that you had to take quiet a beating before you even felt anything while wearing his suit. He put a lot of time, money, effort, and man-hours into making that suit how he wanted it, he hoped it only had suffered minor damage. Tony closed his eyes and took another deep breath, opening his eyes and turning to the village he continued to see the wary and curious eyes fallowing his movements, 'I am just a stranger here, and outsider' he thought to himself then moved along the perimeter once more. By now there was more commotion, all in that short time. 'Did these people always wake up all at once like this, or was it because of him, because someone new had arrived?' Tony figured he wouldn't dwell on this thought; sooner or later he'd find out himself since he'd probably be here for a while before he could get back home, but that was in itself an uncertainty.

Off to his side he heard someone say in a worried voice "Be careful" and he looked to see some children, 4 in all, all of whom were nekos, one was a girl and the rest boys, all looking to range from the ages of about eight to ten. One of the bigger boys was walking up to Tony, apparently on a dare on how brave he was, just showing off to the others whom stayed back at a short distance. He walked right up to Tony, only a few feet away he looked up at Tony's face, while Tony in turn looked back down at his. The child's face looking similar to his own and yet alien at the same time.

After a sight awkward pause of silence the Boy said "Hi" in a confident voice absent of fear or worry. Although rightly so, Tony had no idea what the motives of these people where or what they could be capable of.

"Uh, hi." Responded Tony slightly impressed at the child's confidence. Tony was sure there where adults, if not their own parents, Watching them closely somewhere off in the sidelines.

"Are you the person with no face from earlier?" He said with inquisitive voice heavily laced with excitement.

"Huh?" Tony thought to himself baffled by such an odd question, then again the whole situation was ridicules, then it click on him. The Suit! With the visor turned on, it made him appear to not have a face. "Oh ya, that's right, yep I suppose that was me."

"Cool! So how'd you get a face back?"

"Oh well it's the suits headpiece, it has a visor that I can have it on or off so people can see my face or not."

"Where's all your stuff now?"

"I don't know they took it off of me to see if I was hurt and bandage me up." Tony Looked around briefly and saw Caleb leaning up against a small tree in the distance keeping a constant watch on their activities. By now Tony could see the rest of the kids were less nervous and were starting to let their guard down and feel at ease.

"Can I see it?"

"Well I don't know, maybe whenever I get it back, you'll have to ask them" Gesturing over in the direction of Caleb "But before that I think it might be a bad Idea."

"What happened to your head?" said the Kid Pointing to his head while tilting his own slightly off to the side.

"I'm not sure, When I Popped up here I apparently Fell down a large tree and got beat up badly enough that I got Nasty bumps and bruises all over me, even when wearing my suit and helmet. I Probably got knocked out from the sudden stop of hitting the ground, and I'm guessing that is when I got this welt." Rubbing his head and feeling the bandaging with his finger tips.

"Does it hurt bad?" By now the other three in the group made their way up to their bold friend and loosely surrounded Tony.

Tony just shrugged and nodded his head from side to side "Eh, Not so much, I can feel it, but it's not bad."

"So where are you from faceless man?"

Grinning to himself Tony replied "My name is Tony. And I'm from some other place completely different from here, only humans in my world, Apparently Ben and I are both from the same place, Earth. Up until earlier I never fathomed that… um, well… nekos ever existed." Saying the last part a little sheepishly while rubbing the back of his neck.

"Are you going to stay here?" All of them eagerly looking over tony, to them he was a new found stranger full of the mysterious unknown.

"Well Again I have no Idea, It Looks as if I'm going to stay here for a while and eventually I will try to get back home, to my world, that is if I even can get back." Looking at them Tony could see a flicker of disappointment in their eyes which he then added "but don't worry that probably won't be for a while. So what are your names then?" Which seemed to do the trick to cheer them up.

The bold child who had been the only one to dare confront and talk with Tony proudly stated his name with his chest puffed out. "Im Thanh!"

Then tony looked to the left of Thanh to see the two younger ones who clearly we clearly brothers. "Im Loken" "and I'm Radmilo" they said in quick secession almost overlapping each others words. Unlike Thanh who had brown hair and blue eyes, these two both had matching black hair and hazel-brown eyes.

Tony just had to ask the obvious "Loken and Radmilo, and are you two twins?" which the responed by both nodding their identical heads vigorously. "How old are you guys then?"

"Eight years old!" they said in unison, almost in a comical fashion. In which Tony just smiled back at them before turning over to look at the last one just barely standing to the right of Thanh. The little girl was noticeably un-easy about the attention being now being directed at her, in which she in turn sidestepped a little more to hide herself more so behind her bold friend Thanh.

"And what is your name little one?" said Tony with a smile. Noticing her posture of how she was standing, and even her animal like tail and ears betraying her inner emotions. Ears slightly off to the side and yet still alert while her tail swished and twitched every now and then, she was scared. "Its okay, Im not going to do anything bad, I'm a good guy." Tony said in an attempt to calm her while retaining his friendliest smile he could. Kneeling down so he was eye level with her he continued "Come on, no need to be shy or scared, your perfectly safe. I'm from the same place as Ben, Do you all know Ben?"

The other three responded with a clear and calm "Yes", but all she did was stare and meekly reply "..yes" accompanied by some weak nodding.

"Is Ben a good person? Do you like Ben?" Again the same response but this time the thought of someone who they already knew to be friendly; someone that was from the same place as Tony must have put her mind a little more at ease because her response was no longer as meek as before. He continued to press forwards now that she seemed less hesitant than before "My Name is Tony, who are you?"

"Vera." She said in a timid voice.

"And how old are you?"

"Im 9 years old."

"Really, well I'll tell you what, I'm 27 years old." Said Tony "So what do you and your friends like to do for fun?" now addressing the group and not just Vera.

"Chase" the twins spoke up with matching grins.

"Biffle Ball" said Thanh in excitement.

"I like both" said Vera quietly stepping out from the protection of her friend, but still not letting her guard down like her companions did so readily.

"And what are those?" said Tony with curiosity, In which the group was more than ready to explain how to play. "Chase" turned out to be their variation of hide and seek, tag, cops and robbers, manhunt, all of which are in actuality one in the same; a childhood game that teaches kids about evasion, stealth, and pursuit, while training their bodies to be physically fit and athletically competitive. In Tony's modern world, those games become just that, simple games with no real meaning behind it. But hundreds of years ago when there was a real threat of danger, those practiced skills of hiding and evasion and athleticism could be the difference of survival either when you are the hunter or potentially the hunted. But here on this strange unknown world where the wild is everywhere and untold numerous dangers lurk out in the distance, those skills were essential. Here you cannot simply drive downtown into a air-conditioned store and buy whatever your needs may be, here the village had to provide for itself through their own means. 'Its funny on how when you think about it, there is some hidden message or meaning behind so many childhood rhymes and games.' Tony thought to himself.

Meanwhile "Biffle Ball" ended up being their sport that's a little bit of a mix between 'American Foot ball' and 'soccer', or as the rest of the world outside of America calls it 'foot ball'. The goal of the game was to get both of the two play balls at the same time to your own goal. Usually the goals are tree trunks or logs or something of that nature on opposite sides of a clearing or small open field, whatever is available at the time, which could vary widely determining on the agreed upon play space. Both sides starts off with a Ball, and just like in the two 'foot balls' you are allowed to carry, pass, hand off or kick the ball around to keep it away from the opponents while at the same time get control of their ball without losing control of yours. Tackling and other physical things are allowed as well as interceptions, as a method of making the ball carrier fumble or drop the ball so you can steal it, but full out hitting a person or being exceptionally rough is against the rules. When you have both in your control try your best to get them to the same goal, if you have them both at the goal at the same time, you win. And that's basically it. By the end of the conversation the kids were at complete ease with the new stranger. Even Vera had come out of her shell.

"I see you've already befriended some more acquaintances" a voice said off in the direction that Caleb was watching from.

Everyone turned in the direction of the voice, quickly fallowed by all the kids chiming in to greet him in their own ways. "Hi Ben" said Tony as Ben and Caleb were walking up to the group "And Yes it seems I made a few more acquaintances, But to be fair they befriended me."

"Let me guess it was the fearless Thanh wasn't it."

"Yep!" Said Thanh brimming with pride.

"You know Thanh that may get you into trouble one of these days." Said Caleb

"Oh relax, you know as well as me that there was no real trouble here, at least luckily not this time." Said Ben "Besides you were here to make sure there was no trouble. Remember?"

"I know, but a word to the wise as the saying goes."

"So do you wanna play with us?" said Loken quickly fallowed by a "Yeah" from his twin brother.

"I Don't think so, at least not right now" answered Ben "I Gotta talk to Tony here for a little first, maybe you guys can all play a game later. Besides Tony is much bigger than you all."

"Don't worry we won't go easy on him" said Thanh

"I'm sure you wont, in the mean time however why don't you play with Caleb."

Caleb could only respond with a "Wha...No, AH!" as he was drowned out by the children cheering and jumping on him all at once.

Chuckling as he turned, Ben continued "Alright walk with me Tony. You know Caleb's probably gonna get me back for that, Anyhow a more important matter is you."

"Alright" Tony simply replied as they continued out of the village into the small surrounding fields to wander around the village at a leisurely distance out of range of prying ears.

"As you can see from observation and interaction with everyone here, these people are much like our own kind. In a short amount of time you won't even think twice about them not being the traditional sense of a person, what it is to be human back on earth. They know how to farm a few crops they are advanced enough to build villages and appreciate the arts. But get this strait as soon as you are out of sight of the village, or civilization in general, you are in the jungle. There are countless dangers that will gladly end your life for a meal. Almost every creature with teeth or claws from the small to the Big to the giant, there are even some carnivorous plants. And if you are not on the look out for them you will find yourself surrounded by them in no time. With that being said this place is at the same time paradise, once you appreciate your surroundings this extremely dangerous world can eventually become home, it did for me. Besides the natural beauty from the nature all around you, there is also one huge fact that you will learn here eventually….have you ever heard of the tales of the fountain of youth?"

"I Have. Many explorers, thought it would be in the new world; many believed it to be in central America, others thought it was somewhere in Florida along with several other claims. But that's just a myth, its doesn't exist."

"And Neither does this world, and yet here we are defying reality, in this myth."

"Are you trying to tell me it exists?"

"This is the fountain of youth, this whole world."

"I don't believe it."

"I didn't either at first, but it's the magic that permeates everything in existence here, it heals your cells and essentially stops them from ageing. Look at me, I'm 34 now. I'm older than you, but when I arrived here I was only 22."

"You only look to be in your mid 20s at the very most"

"Exactly once a person is fully 'matured' here they don't age any more, If you look around the village with the exception of the humans, all of the nekos are native to here. None of them seem to be older than their mid thirties yet the elders are several hundreds of years old."

"Impossible. Its not natural."

"For here impossible is the regular, the magic screws with everything, speeding up healing properties, the physics of life, everything! People Like you and me anyone who just pop up here, if they have already reached adult hood and are fully grown, they stop ageing almost entirely. Your cells that comprise your body are always healthy, disease is next to non-existent, save from the common cold. Its like the polar opposite of cancer. Instead of destroying your body, It preserves it in your prime. You could theoretically live for thousands of years before you grow any gray hairs and live thousands of years after before you start becoming frail from old age." Tony just fallowed along side Ben remaining quiet but with a highly skeptical look on his face, just listening to what Ben was saying. Continuing on Ben spoke "But as I said before this world is very dangerous, this doesn't make anyone immortal. Even here everyone still dies, just no longer from reaching the end of your life span through old age. Its now just from unfortunate accidents or events, or because you became something else's meal, since starvation is still fatal, even here. This is the garden of Eden but with poisonous fangs and razor sharp teeth if you get what I mean."

Tony was once again silent as he and Ben walked along. Just like his first time here he took some time to pause and let it all sink in a little before he continued the conversation "Okay, Lets say Everything you just said is true and that I do believe you. What do you mean by dangers out in the jungle?

"Well as I'm sure as you could imagine there are animals Like tigers and Wolves and of the sort; similar to what is on earth. But there are also strange creatures that you would think would only be in stories or legends. Any strange creature you can think of from ancient myths of Hercules to the Lord of the Rings you can almost expect that there is something at least similar to it somewhere here. There are Giant insects and spiders, animal bodies with human torsos attached to them; similar to Pegasus, and even fairies."

Ben raised his hands in a 'slow down' gesture when Tony just lifted his eyebrows at just about everything he just said. "Except that many of those creatures are truly monstrous and highly dangerous to any humanoid. Even the fairies, in popular culture and in fairy tales they are nice and helpful. Here though they can and will kill you. And when I said from the small to the big to the Giant, I meant Big to be like a elephant and giant I really did mean giant."

"Giant, like what, a blue whale?"

"Sometimes bigger, but I REALLY mean Giant"

Tony Paused "Wait…you don't seriously mean…like giant as in 'Fee Fii Foe fum' giant"

"Yes, I really do mean that Kind of Giant except minus Jack's bean stalk. And a rule to live by here…or more accurately die by: is if something is bigger than you and it can catch you, it will eat you. So naturally since the giant creatures are so big, they have very little to fear and are at the top of the food chain. We are however somewhere in the middle since there are still many things smaller than ourselves."

"Are they smart? Because one real strength of humanity was that we were always smarter."

"Some are indeed smart, just as clever as us, but there are also many who are dumb and easily outdone in a match of brain verses brawn. They tend to just rely on their size almost entirely for their survival but that's not relegated to just the animalistic creatures many of the humanoid beings do the same, but they do have the habit to think much more than the animals. There are however stories of certain animals who can talk, which means they possess enough brain power that you should never underestimate a predator because if you do it can be fatal. Oh and just a heads up, just about all of the half animal half human creatures can talk and think just as well as us humans or the nekos. And again when I say animalistic, I don't mean like the nekos where all they got are ears and a tail, and for the most part are human, I mean it the other way around. They are the real danger in this world especially when they are giant, Luckily there are very few in numbers and tend not to be the most social of species. The bigger they are the less of them are around. While the smaller species like us are actually very ,very numerous at least in comparison to them."

"Well um, I think I'll believe all this when I see it."

"Fair enough, I had to do the same myself, But you'll come to terms with it all in time."

"So what…Is there a way back home, to earth?"

"Yes, or at least I believe so."

"Why don't you go back to earth?"

"Well like I said before this place can be 'Eden' if you learn how to live in it and accept all its harsh realities. When I first came here I was taken in by this tribe, back then I was the only human, so it was an awkward experience by myself to say the least. Even more so back then since some of the nekos didn't like to wear cloths. After a little bit, I spent a few years Traveling and Searching for a way home, Found a few leads that were dead ends and found a few that could actually bring me back, but I found I had to choose between the two."

"You didn't go back! What was there to choose between?"

"For all I knew I was as good as dead back on earth, and here I meet many new friends, I always stayed youthful and energetic. Ask any old person in the hospital bed or nursing home, they'll tell you getting old sucks when you can't do basic things by yourself, stuff that you once could do with ease. You just become a shadow of your former self. Personally I'm not for the 'wasting away while attached to machines' option. And here I met many new friends, good friends, Abigail in particular. So it was go back as a dead man, or stay here in this place filled with alien possibilities like eternal youth."

"So in the end you chose to stay."

"Yep, I married Abigail and we agreed to move here with the friendly tribe that saved me when I first found myself in Felarya. After a while we started a family...and here we are just over a decade later."

"Felarya?" asked Tony

"Oh, yes that's right! I never properly told you what this new world was called." Then with a sinister smile Ben raised his arms out above his head and proclaimed "Welcome to Felarya!"

"Right…we'll I'm not sure how I should respond to that, as a good or bad thing."

"It can easily be both. For me I made it into a good thing and hopefully you can too."

Having enough of this crazy "Felarya" world talk, Tony felt like now would be a good time to change the subject "Ben, you asked me how I got here and I told you, but how did you find yourself here? When I asked, you said 'ask me later'."

"True, and now that I told you the basis of what you needed to know, I will tell you. I am a soldier, a United States Marine. Or at least I was at the time, but they say once a marine always a marine."

"Hoo-rah, but what's the U.S. Marine Corps. have to do with anything?"

"Lets not get ahead of ourselves. You see, I was in the service when I was 'teleported' here for lack of a better term. In fact it was in the middle of combat."

"Really?"

"Yup, it was back in 2004, at least in terms of earth years anyways. I was in Iraq and it was the second battle of Fallujah…"